1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to games, and more particularly to multiple, independently played games having a common progressive bonus payout.
2. Background of the Related Art
Roll-down games have been played for many years in arcade environments. These games usually include a ramp and one or more targets at the end of the ramp. A player rolls a ball down the ramp towards a desired target, and a game score is displayed on a scoring display based upon the player's success.
In U.S. Pat. No. 810,299, O. E. Pettee describes a game in which a ball is rolled down a plane towards an upright target pin. When the pin is impacted, a motor activates to spin a dial. When the dial stops spinning, it indicates the player's score.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,141,580, S. E. White describes a game in which a ball is tossed into holes marked in various time intervals. A spinning dial hand is stopped from rotating by the amount of time indicated by the hole that the ball is tossed into. The object of the game is to make the dial stop at a chosen character or numeral on the dial face.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,926,915, F. D. Johns describes a skee-ball game in which a ball is rolled towards a scoring drum and in Which tickets are dispensed to the player by an electrically operated automatic ticket dispenser.
Games of the prior art, while enjoyable, are rather simple and, as such, often lead to rapid player boredom. This is undesirable in an environment where revenues are directly related to the continuous, repeated use of the games.